141021 Cubs

Continuing with our work on the Scientist badge we had a lot of fun with balloon rocket racing as well as learning the science behind it – We learnt that it’s all about the air…and thrust. As the air rushes out of the balloon, it creates a forward motion called THRUST. Thrust is a pushing force created by energy. In the balloon experiment, our thrust comes from the energy of the balloon forcing the air out. Different sizes and shapes of balloon will create more or less thrust. In a real rocket, thrust is created by the force of burning rocket fuel as it blasts from the rockets engine – as the engines blast down, the rocket goes up!

Some of the balloon rockets didn’t make it from one end of the HQ to the other in one go so we also talked about FRICTION and how this could be reduced by rubbing the string with wax.

If you would like to have a go click on the link below for full instructions:

We had a lot of fun with this activity. We also learnt about our pulse and how important it is to have one!! – We checked our pulses at rest and found that, on average our heart/ pulse rate was roughly 90 beats per minute (bpm). We then took part in a relay race to see what the difference this exercise had on our pulse. Everyone’s pulse had gone up.

Please see below some of the photo’s that were taken during the evening …………